Antag Planning
For those that need help coming up with plans/gimmicks/ideas as an antagonist, this guide will help give a detailed explanation of how to come up with them. Introduction As antagonists on Baystation 12 do not have pre-set objectives, it is important to know that you have to come up with your own plans/gimmicks/ideas to do when you get selected to be a Traitor, Cultist, Mercenary, etc. You do not want to play any of these roles without having a clue of what to do, and so it's best to prepare beforehand. Note that you can avoid being selected for an antag on the character creation screen. Before Round Planning This type of planning is typically where the best ideas come from. This is because a person can put more time into thinking how they will do this, and then apply it immediately in round. Take a moment to ask yourself the following questions, and note your responses: # Who is my character right now? # What are their beliefs? # What is something that they would realistically do, due to certain circumstances? # Is this idea going to be fun for others to participate in? # Is my idea something I should ask for staff approval? It is important to know who you are playing at the time, and what they believe in. Are you a doctor with misguided morals? Are you a scientist that has been affected by an anomaly that has made you go mad? Are you a mercenary trying to make a quick buck? These are all important to knowing what you have access to on station, possible relationships you could manipulate, and what they would realistically do. It does not make much sense for a character with arachnophobia to suddenly have a plan about taming spiders, and releasing them out into medical. If you are playing a station character, keep it somewhat realistic to your current situation. If you are simply a traitor, try to stick to motivations your character has, rather than the radical shifts in personality, which are better suited for Changelings. The other thing to keep in mind is to keep fun the number one priority. After all, this is a game, and the goal is to have fun. Plans that involve people will typically be better at this, than the ones that are running around shooting people. Lastly, the only times you absolutely need to tell the staff team your plan is when they involve mass murder, or mass bombings. An example of all this put to practice would be: # Who is my character right now? #* Joe Smith # What are their beliefs? #* Joe Smith is a capitalist, that loves to make money. He took this job to make the most possible money he could. # What is something that they would realistically do, due to certain circumstances? #* Joe Smith lost a bunch of money gambling, and needs to do something to make that money back. As a result, he decides to steal various things from the station, that would possibly fetch a nice price off station somewhere, and even tries to steal money out of other's accounts through any means necessary. # Is this idea going to be fun for others to participate in? #* More than likely, as people start to get paranoid about things being missing. It would create good roleplaying potential if he should get caught, and him having to explain why he was doing what he was doing to the members of the security team. # Is my idea something I should ask for staff approval? #* No, as this idea does not involve any mass killings, or bombings of vital areas. During Round Planing In the event that you have joined a round, and been made antag, and for whatever reason, do not have a plan, the following is made with the intent to help inspire some quick ideas to get you going. The sooner you pick one of these, the better, as it will allow you more time during the round to do everything you need. They are made vague on purpose, as to help best keep whatever idea you come up with more or less unique, and to keep the spirit of no traditional objectives. Traitor * There was that one guy a while back that was not very nice, maybe I should teach him some manners. * I’m not doing too well financially, I should do something about that * You know, I always wanted to find out what would happen if I did X to a person * I always wanted X, maybe I should just go take it * It would be nice to have some real power around here Changeling * How high can I climb? * What’s the most dangerous place I can get into? * How many relationships can I destroy? * How many meals can I acquire without getting caught? Cult * Nar’sie? I don’t practice that satanic worship! I’m an advocate for X! * Toy with your past relationships with your new knowledge * That area over there looks nice. Let’s do some renovations! * An arcane tome study group could be nice. Revolutionary * Who is going to be fired? I heard X people were! * Where did my benefits go? * I heard they’re going to shut down X! * This head of staff has been doing a lot of bad recently. Mercenary/Raider * Let us capitalize on that phoron gain * A little game never hurt * X is a high priority target, and must be obtained. * We are headed to a derelict for a standard stripping mission. Let’s get the scrap yard, and make it turn a profit Wizard/Ninja * I could take X, and then the station could try to win it back from me. A little dangerous game. * Knowledge is power, and power is key. I should gain as much as I can * X is a person/thing of great importance to me. * I grow old and weary, perhaps it is time to teach a student Tools There are a variety of tools that can help in your planning, and depending on what kind of antag you are, some will be available to you, while others might not be. These are at your disposal, so please do take advantage of them. AOOC A version of OOC chat, that only antags can use. This is best utilized to come up with plans/gimmicks in groups, and solidifying a plan of action. Rounds like Mercenary, Heist, and Cult can all make excellent use of this, so that everyone has an idea of how to act, and present themselves to others. For example, a Mercenary team might want to say they are an elite strike team, there to take people hostage by force, and without AOOC, the idea might not flow as well as it would be, if everyone knew it. Take full advantage of AOOC to help you know what the team wants to do, and so you all do not end up fighting over small things. Keep in mind that IC in OOC rules still apply for AOOC. Do not share relevant information IC information to others through this, and do not try to coordinate others past the point of a general plan of action. Those are all things best left to IC interaction between characters. Exploitable Information The uplink is available to Traitors, Mercenaries, and Heist teams, which encompase one important thing, Exploitable Information. Exploitable Information is IC information about characters, that can help in the plan making process. If you see that a character has a bounty on their head, it might be in your character(s) best interest to capture them because of it, or if you see a character is willing to work with/for you, it might be best to try to gain their service. Take full advantage of possibly the greatest tool at your disposal as one of these antags. Adminhelp The staff online is available for you to ask questions, and get ideas from. They will do their best to assist you in getting a plan, so that you have something interesting to do for the round. If you are ever in doubt of what you are doing, please adminhelp. Other Guides There are various guides for certain antag types that will be useful to you. It is recommended you read through these so you know what tools you get at your disposal with each of them, and what is expected of you as a player.